Advancements in image sensor technology have lead to a demand for higher resolution capabilities, namely the ability to provide images with larger numbers of pixels. For example, image sensors continue to increase in the number of pixels they are able to capture, and high definition (HD) video is becoming the norm in many applications.
Image display systems have also seen great advancements in technology, but the advancements sometimes take different forms. For example, significant effort has been made in providing large, high-resolution monitors (e.g., plasma and LCDs), which are now readily available and continue to decrease in price. On the other hand, significant effort has also been invested in creating small-scale displays that can meet the unique requirements of mobile phones and other similar devices, such as durability, power consumption, weight, etc.
Despite the wide array of display types that exist, the delineation between computers, televisions, and mobile phones continue to be become less pronounced. That is, users now may desire to view images on a computer or television monitor, or may desire to view these same images on a mobile device (or both). Yet, if content is formatted for a particular type of display, it may not provide desired results when viewed on other displays.
As such, various approaches are sometimes used for resizing or re-formatting images for different applications. One approach for image resizing is described in a article to Avidan et al. entitled “Seam Carving for Content-Aware Image Resizing,” ACM Transactions on Graphics, Vol. 26, No. 3. (2007), which is hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference. This article discusses that effective resizing of images should not only use geometric constraints, but consider the image content as well. A image operator is presented called “seam carving” that supports content-aware image resizing for both reduction and expansion. A seam is an optimal 8-connected path of pixels on a single image from top to bottom, or left to right, where optimality is defined by an image energy function. By repeatedly carving out or inserting seams in one direction the aspect ratio of an image can be changed. By applying these operators in both directions the image to a new size can be retargeted. The selection and order of seams protect the content of the image, as defined by the energy function.
Despite the advantages of such approaches, further flexibility in resizing images may be desirable in certain applications.